Amanda Knox Signs Book Deal Worth Millions

Amanda Knox, the U.S. college exchange student who won an appeal to overturn her murder conviction in Italy last October, has signed a deal to write a memoir — for which she'll earn nearly $4 million, according to reports.

According to the Media Decoder blog at The New York Times, "After a heated auction among publishing houses that stretched for days, HarperCollins bought the rights this week to publish Ms. Knox's book, which is expected to be a gripping account of her experiences in Italy."

The AP quotes a statement from HarperCollins in which the publisher says, "Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system."

The publisher says Knox will use journals she wrote while incarcerated as the basis for her book, which may come out as soon as early 2013.

Knox, 24, was arrested in late 2007 and accused of murdering roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. After a lengthy trial that was marked by a frenzy of interest and speculation in Italy and Britain (Kercher was from south London), Knox was found guilty, and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.